Trolley-pole-controlling device for cars or vehicles.



' No.'69|,275. Patented Ian. l4, I902.

r w. a. msounu. TROLLEY POLE CONTROLLING DEVICE FOR G-A'RS'DB VEHICLES.

Application- 1511 Apr. 10, 1901.) Y

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WASHINGTON I-I. KILBOURN, OF GREENFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

TROLLEY-POLE-C ONTROLLlNG DEVICE FOR CARS OR VEHICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 691,275, dated January14, 1902.

Application filed April 10, 1901. Serial No. 55,164. (No model-J To allwhom it 11mg concern.-

Be it known that 1, WASHINGTON H. KIL- BOURN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Greenfield, in the county of Franklin and State ofMassachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Trolley-Pole-Oontrolling Devices for Cars or Vehicles, of which the following isa specification.

This invention relates to improved means for governing'the movement orupward throw of the trolley-pole of an electrically-propelledtrolley-car when the free end of said pole becomes disengaged from underthe conducting-wire and unless restrained flies upward above said wire,thereby cutting ofi? the current from thecar and oftentimes damaging theline by striking and breaking guy-wires and disarranging other fixturesthereof, the object being to provide an improved trolleypole controllerintermediate of the free end of the trolley-pole and car, whereby thenormal vertical movements of said free end consequent upon variations inthe height of the conducting-wire under which it bears are regulated tosuch a degree as to insure practically a continual contact with saidconductor, but in case the free end of said pole from any cause becomesdisplaced from under the said conductor it is automaticallypreventedfrom swinging but slightly, if at all, above the latter,thereby preventing said damaging results, and the pole can beconveniently replaced under the conducting-wire by the attendant on thecar without materially interrupting the movement of the latter.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure l is a sideelevation of a part of the roof and of one end of a trolley-car,illustrating the position of a section of the conducting-wirethereabove,the usual trolley-pole and its supporting and spring-actu ating deviceson said rod and trolley-polecontrolling devices embodying my invention,attached to said car part, and a connection between said controller andpole. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a part of the end of the car shownin Fig. 1, but upon an enlarged scale, in which said controller is shownwith a portion of one border partly broken away. Fig. 3 is a perspectiveview of one end of the controller-frame, illustrating a modifiedconstruction of a part thereof, hereinafter described.

Referring to the drawings, A indicates one end of a trolley-car; B, theusual dashboard or fender on the border'of the platform, and

pole counterweight 5 and for the shaft 6,

forming the trunnions thereof, as shown. Said counterweight has the formof a grooved pulley and is preferably of metal. As shown in Fig. 2, theends of said shaft 6 extend outwardly between the upper and lower barsof said frame, while the counterweight-pulley is adapted to movecentrally between said four bars back and forth between the ends of saidframe. The under sides of the upper bars of said oblong frame areprovided with either a series of depending pins 4, as in Fig. 2, or saidbars are serrated, as shown at .50 in Fig. 3, and in either case thespace between the points of said pins 4: or the teeth of said serrationsof the bars and the adjoining upper side of the bar 3 thereunder is wideenough to permit said shaft 6 to move or roll freely on said under barback and forth between the ends of the pole controller frame, and thespaces either between said pins 4 or between the teeth of saidserrations are wide enough to receive the parts of said shaft 6 whichextend beyond the sides of said counterweight 5 when the latter shall belifted up and off from the under bars of said frame, as below described.Said frame is suitably secured on the dashboard B of the car in suchdegree of inclination as will cause said counterweight 5 to roll freelydownward under certain circumstances, as below set forth, whereby thetrolley-pole cord F is kept taut with a certain force, but notsufficient to interfere with the proper electrical contact thereof withthe conducting-wire O, to the end thatthere shall be normally no slackin said cord,which would permit said pole to spring above said conductorwhile the car is. moving.

The operation of the within-described trolley-pole-controlling devicesis as follows: The lower end of the trolley-pole cord F is passed aroundsaid pulley-shaped counterweight 5, and the end thereof is secured tothe upper end of the frame of the controller J, as shown in Figs. 2 and3, by knotting the same or otherwise. In practice the position ofsaidcounterweight 5, with the trolley-pole D in the position shown inFig. 1, relative to the conducting-wire 0 would be rather nearer thelower end of the controller-frame than is shown in said figure. Ahook-coupling H may, if desired, be placed in the pole-cord F forconvenience in passing the same around said counterweight. Figs. 1 and 2fairly illustrate the positions of the trolley-pole D, the

po1e-cord'F, and the counterweight 5, which they relatively occupy whilethe car is moving on a road. While the car so moves said weight movesupward and downward on said controller-frame in consonance withthesimilar swinging movements of the upperend of the trolley-pole as itfollows the common undulations of the conducting-wire C, but keepingsaid cord constantly in line. When, however, the upper end of said polesuddenly leaves the conductor and by the pole-spring support E iscarried upward more or less, the. forceo'f said movement through thecord F;

I acts suddenly upon the weight 5a'n'd instantly lifts it bodily upward,carrying the ends of, the shaft 6 off from the lower-bars of thecontroller-frame and up into such sudden engagement against the sides ofthe pins 4 thereabove that the Weight has no rotary movement in thisaction, but serves to instantly stop the movement of said pole upwardly,thereby preventing the end of the pole from swinging above saidconductor, with the damaging results above mentioned, and holding thepole-cord in such position that an attendant on the car-platform caneasily swing the end of the pole into proper position under saidconductor-wire.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States, is-

l. Trolley-pole-controlling devices comprising the trolley-cord, aweight with which the cord has a rolling engagemer man inclined trackover which said weight moves, actuated by the normal vertical movementof said cord, combined with means whereby a sudden lifting movementapplied to said weight will arrest the latter, substantially asdescribed.

I 2. Trolley-pole-controllingdevicescomprising two parallel inclinedtracks, aweight havin g trunnions thereon for supporting it on thetracks between the latter, a trolley-cord passing around a part of theweight concentric with said trunnions and having its free end attachedto the car above said weight, combined with a toothed rack parallel withthe tracks andlocated above them, adapted to be engaged by saidtrunnions when the Weight is suddenly lifted, substantially asdescribed.

WASHINGTON KILBOURN. Witnesses:

H. A. CHAPIN, K. I. CLEMONS.

